Brookhaven,
Mississippi
Addressing Downtown Second Floor Housing
Background
Brookhaven, Mississippi is the site of the old Whitworth College. The campus is currently being renovated and restored to house the new Mississippi School of the Arts, an arts magnet school for high school students from the entire state of Mississippi. Opening in the fall of 2002 will provide an sudden influx of students, teachers and staff into the Brookhaven community creating a need for additional housing.
The Small Town Center was contacted by members of the Brookhaven Trust and the City of Brookhaven to develop a set of proposals for second-floor apartment spaces in the existing downtown buildings. The downtown area is currently registered as a historical district by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) and the National Register of Historic Places. Listing on the National Register allows some properties to be eligible for certain tax benefits or grant assistance, requiring the property to be compliant to the Department of Interior Standards.
Also, the studio received a Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation grant to the School of Architecture to bring in an internationally-recognized landscape architect, Martha Schwartz, from Cambridge, Masssachusetts. Ms. Schwartz worked with the students in developing proposals for a city park in the central space of the downtown. This central space is divided by a railroad which brings trains through the community at 60 miles per hour and makes occasional Amtrak stops.
The space is bordered by public streets, parking and active ground-level businesses which creates an area of high activity but currently lacks a sense of a civic importance. This space has the potential to be an important public space supportive to town gatherings and special arts events by the Mississippi School of Arts.
Development
Each student was assigned the task of documenting, photographing and developing proposals for the second-floor spaces for apartments or office spaces. Each student worked with the property owner and current tenant(s) to gain insight into the preferred uses for the spaces and to help educate the property owner of the needs of the spaces.
Ultimately, schematic-design plan drawings were developed for each building and presented to the property owners. The size and number of apartments varied according to the size and current layout of the existing conditions in each building. As historical buildings, each proposal attempted to adhere to the standards established by MDAH. In an effort to further revitalize the downtown district, an exterior faŤade study was also developed for each building.
Over the years, many of the businesses have undergone renovation and the original details have been lost; some facades can easily be recovered by removing "slip covers" while others will require extensive reconstruction. For the park, each student developed a city park proposal for the large open area in the center of the town. Capitalizing on the established activity in the area, many proposals included pathways for pedestrians and bikes, reconsidering the parking areas, proposals for installations of art pieces, outdoor gathering spaces, landscaping and other amenities throughout the site.
This project was developed and supported by the Brookhaven Trust. The project is a result of a third-year design studio taught by Shannon Criss in the fall of 1999. The MSU students involved were Jack Allin, Kyle Archer, Karyn Brown, Jennifer Clynch, Antonio Dorsey, Joseph Echols, Brian Findley, Brandi Hill, Shelley Hillman, Jason King, Elizabeth Liles, Scott Logan, Melissa Parker, Chad Spurlin, Elizabeth Trent and Jennifer Wegmann.
Download a 2 page PDF for Printing
See a slideshow of images from the project.
